Richard Leland

Richard Leland (died 1544) was a soldier in the English Army during the Italian War of 1542-46.

Biography
Richard Leland was an English commoner, and he was called up to serve in the English Army during the Italian War of 1542-46. Charles Brandon, 1st Duke of Suffolk was impressed by Leland's musketry skills during a training session in 1543, and he decided to make Leland a sniper. During the Siege of Boulogne in northern France, Leland shot at French soldiers on the city walls from an English trench, assisting the English sappers as they dug underneath the city walls. As Leland stood to celebrate the walls collapsing, he was shot in the throat by a crossbow bolt, killing him.